The lifeboat was launched to assist the Kent Fire Brigade vessel Fire Launch 48, reported aground in the Swale near Harty Ferry.

At 20.40 the lifeboat crew located the craft around 300 yards west south west of the Sand End Buoy.

Crewmember Richard Judge went ashore on the sandbank to assess the situation and assist with laying out an anchor.

The vessel, an 8-metre rigid inflatable, had run aground following a technical error with its navigation system and an unlit buoy.